The Nokia flagship smartphone you’ve been waiting for is now in Malaysia

If the first wave of Android-powered Nokia smartphones didn’t excite you that much, you might want to pay attention to their new Nokia 8. This is their latest flagship smartphone and it’s even more affordable than the OnePlus 5.

To refresh your memory, the Nokia 8 runs on the top of the line Snapdragon 835 processor that’s mated to 4GB of LP-DDR4X RAM and it gets 64GB of UFS 2.1 storage which is expandable via microSD. In front, you get a 5.3″ Quad HD IPS display that’s protected with Gorilla Glass 5.

Just like the good old days, Nokia has brought ZEISS back into the picture for its new 13MP dual-camera setup. Similar to Huawei’s flagship lineup, it gets one sensor that takes pictures in colour while the other sensor is dedicated for monochrome. There’s also OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) assistance for its main primary camera.

For selfies, the Nokia 8 gets a 13MP f/2.0 front facing camera that comes with PDAF. Instead of taking normal selfies and wefies, Nokia thinks it has an edge with the Bothie feature which lets you capture moments using both front and rear cameras. With the Nokia 8, you can also start a live stream to tell the story from both sides of the phone.

In the audio department, the Nokia 8 also features Nokia OZO Audio, which is a first on a smartphone. Utilising its 3 built-in mics, you can capture immersive sound while recording a 4K video.

As usual, Nokia prides itself on delivering premium design at every price point. The Nokia 8 is also crafted from a single block of 6000 series aluminium that had undergone 40 stages of machining, anodising and polishing. Some of the colours have a high-gloss mirror finish for a unique look.

Like the rest of the new Nokia smartphones, the Nokia 8 runs on stock Android that offers a bloatware-free experience with instant updates to keep your device secure at all times. At the moment, the device currently runs on Android 7.1.1.

Powering the Nokia 8 is a 3,090mAh battery which charges via USB Type-C and it does support QuickCharge 3.0. You can’t dunk this into the pool but it has some form of splash resistance with an IP54 rating.

The Nokia 8 is officially priced at RM2,299 in Malaysia and it will be available in 4 colours – Polished Blue, Polished Copper, Tempered Blue and Steel. According to HMD, the Nokia 8 is available at authorised stores starting today. What do you think? Is RM2,299 a steal for a new Nokia flagship smartphone? Let us know in the comments below.